Torch, Spring 2003

Spring 2003 / TORCH 11 MoonPies, Vienna sausages, catalpa worms, crickets, bobbers, tackle box, poles, and Papa Landers — yep, the Dodge Rambler was packed and we were ready for the 90-minute drive up the mountain to Crossville, Tenn. Before the onset of adolescence, when I deemed fishing to be boring, uncool, and reserved for the very young and the elderly, I loved to fish with my dad and grandpa. Dad has never lost his love for fishing. Since being introduced to the sport of anglers during visits to his Uncle Benny’s farm in northern Kentucky, my father has counted fishing as one of his top joys in life. How many college students at Tennessee Temple would get up at 5 a.m. in order to get an hour of fishing in before class? (And, of course, the follow-up question: How many students would then use their dormitory sink to “store” the caught fish until they could be cleaned after class?) Dad’s attraction to the sport of fishing is precisely the reason he has been so powerfully used as a college president. Fishing demands the right strategy. It requires persistence and the dogged determination to remain faithful to the task. Finally, fishermen are die-hard optimists — the kind of people who use 50-pound test line in a lake full of one-pound fish. Strategy Out-thinking fish is not a simple task! Fishing is more than sticking a line into the water. Some mornings fish are hungry for worms, and other evenings they long for the sweet delicacy of cricket meat. One type of bass is attracted to plastic green worms with yellow stripes while other bass like spinning metal thingamabobs that taste just like spinning metal thingamabobs. Some fish look for their food on the bottom of the lake. Others cruise closer to the surface looking for breakfast. Oh, yes, out-thinking these aquatic vertebrates (with brains no bigger than a breadcrumb) who spend their entire life in schools is not a simple task. With his trusty “Seven Star diary” at his side, Dad is always dreaming, scheming, and strategizing about the next big building project or another possible source to fund the next big building project. Like the best strategists, Dad has the uncanny ability to simplify Above and left: Dr. Dixon loves to take the next generation of Dixons fishing. Here he is with granddaughter Claire and grandson Seth. Opposite page: Dr. Dixon with his wife, Pat, and son, Scott ... now and then